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THE DIP SAGA (screenshot series)
"'''THE DIP SAGA" was the informal, fan-given title of the screenshot series created by Cameron Costin Clevenger Stephens, though Stephens later came to use the name as well in the years after its release. The stories followed the manic, egocentric, periwinkle cat Hermione Katze as she encountered a black, tar-like substance known as "DIP," that had a lethal acidity to anyone who touched it. It also contained her reestablishment of her private investigation offices and formation of an alliance in order to terminate the "DIP" threat. PLOT SUMMARIES The series followed a number of different plot-lines and single stories could contain multiple story arcs. The summaries below largely convey the overarching narratives of each story. "THE DIP" Main article: THE DIP (screenshot story) The storyline accompanied Hermione as she had to deal with the aftermath of a flood of DIP which eradicated a large portion of her neighborhood and destroyed her house. The story concludes with Hermione ultimately finding the primary site of DIP production and destroying the facility with the engine parts of her wrecked vehicle, as DIP is highly flammable. "THE DETECTIVE" Main article: THE DETECTIVE (screenshot story) Hermione Katze reestablishes her Private Investigator offices (which had been mentioned to be neglected for some time prior the events of "THE DIP"), after a number of toons go missing under mysterious circumstances, including Hermione's younger brother. Hermione's mental state worsens, hallucinating through much of the narrative. A fair amount of the story takes place in Hermione's dreams, which become more surreal and deranged as the narrative progresses. These dreams do end up being relevant, however, as they help her solve the disappearances case. The story concludes with Hermione confronting the toon behind the kidnappings, a literal "fat cat" that was trying to expand his successful hypnotherapist business by testing mind-altering techniques on kidnapped victims. After a violent struggle, it is implied that Hermione drowns the cat in the lake beside her home. She ultimately rescues her brother, but he is now severely mentally damaged. "DIP CRUSHERS" ''(mini-series)'' Main article: DIP CRUSHERS (screenshot mini-series) "DIP CRUSHERS" took an episodic format and was not as serious as the main "DIP SAGA" storyline. This miniseries introduced the character Anne and new DIP weaponry, such as a handheld flamethrower and a DIP blaster. Unlike the central DIP storyline, this was a fairly comedic series. "DIP CRUSHERS IN: TEAMWORK" Blue cat Anne wakes up to find a DIP spillage pouring into her homestead and meets Hermione as she attempts to contain it, as she views it as her responsibility. Anne assists Hermione in containing the DIP, and ultimately asks to team up with Hermione in her quest to rid the town of the wretched substance. Hermione obliges and the "DIP Crusher" alliance is formed. "DIP CRUSHERS IN: ANNE FINDS A JOB" Hermione helps Anne find an occupation in order to pay off the increasing expenses required in containing the DIP. This light-hearted episode features Anne as she comedically fails in various jobs, such as lumber-jacking, pet training, and painting. Hermione offers sarcastic criticisms throughout, adding more humor to the situation. "DIP CRUSHERS IN: HERMIONE TAKES A VACATION" Anne convinces Hermione to take a vacation after noticing how stressed she's become over her private investigation and DIP-containing work. After much stress in actually finding a viable vacationing spot (almost checking in at a nursing home), the two decide to go to a nearby tropical island. However, they get onto the wrong aircraft and end up in a wasteland. "DIP CRUSHERS IN: TIMESCAPE" Anne and Hermione accidentally find themselves in a number of different time periods after a machine overload, having to escape from prehistoric animals with what little scraps they have left. This episode is implied to take place entirely in Hermione's head. "THE UNITED" Main article: THE UNITED (screenshot story) COMMUNITY Fans of the work labeled themselves as "Little Dippers," and subsequently just as "Dippers." Many of these fans posted threads devoted to the screenshot story, with the fans theorizing on upcoming story "scraps" and possible ulterior meanings behind the work. "THE DIP SAGA" AFTERMATH Although no none copies of the series are known exist today, fans of the series still maintain to talk about the stories, oftentimes in private forums. ABANDONMENT AND DELETION Trouble began to brew at Stephens' first introduction of Pennywise as a collaborator. Many people were upset that he had chosen a relative newcomer to the forums to co-create "THE DIP SAGA," thinking it would spoil the purity of the series. Although many people loved the addition of the more comedic, episodic installments of DIP CRUSHERS, there were a few that thought the humorous deviation of the series was indicative of Pennywise attempting to mock the popularity of the series. Although the two worked on the miniseries together, it was Pennywise who posted the content on a separate thread, and therefore she who received the lion's share of the blame. She began receiving a large quantity of hate mail, many of which were personal attacks, and on January 21st, 2006, she announced her departure from the series and the scheduled deletion of both her "Toontown Central" forum and Toontown Online accounts. "It's just become too much," Pennywise wrote in her personalized thread, "Stephens knows that I've been planning this for a little while now. I've apologized a thousand times but he says he completely understands.""MMO Central Forums." (formally Toontown Central Forums) MMO Central Forums RSS. N.p., 3 Apr. 2005. Web. 28 July 2015 ' After Pennywise made this statement, Stephens announced that "THE UNITED" would be the last entry in the series, and his plans for the fourth installment, "DIP AND FLAMES," would be terminated. A flame war and spambot attacks on "THE DIP" thread (which contained the entire "DIP SAGA", sans DIP CRUSHERS) followed Stephens' abandonment of the series. After the site began receiving too much damage, he requested that the "Toontown Central" moderators lock and delete the entire story, including all pictures and fan comments. After community interest in the story spiked and new forum members began a desperate search for the deleted story, Stephens uploaded a comically terrible revisiting of the story, seemingly created in Microsoft paint, and had moderators immediately lock the thread. This way, curious TTC members would instead find this awful version of the story when searching the forum's archives for "THE DIP" or either of its sequels, and community interest would eventually subside. Besides the occasional screencap of the original forum posting, no copies of the original story are known to exist. Before the site overhaul of 2015, c3sabertooth.com had a small section dedicated to "THE DIP SAGA," in which Stephens revealed that he is no longer in possession of the original screenshot story files. He has also admitted that at some point in 2007, Pennywise's contact details must have changed, as then their previous back-and-forth emails began bouncing back. He hadn't regained contact with her as of 2013. '''REFERENCES